'DNA evidence will convict accused'

Wednesday 25 January 2006 00:09 BST

DNA evidence will be used to convict an electrician of murdering 29 people in the Omagh bomb massacre, a court heard.

As Sean Hoey, 37, went on trial for the worst single atrocity of the troubles in Northern Ireland, a Crown lawyer claimed he could be linked to a series of dissident republican explosions before and after the April 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

The accused, from Molly Road, Jonesborough, south Armagh, denies a total of 58 terrorist-related charges.

As well as the Omagh murders these include a number of other bombings and conspiracies.

Hoey sat in the dock at Belfast Crown Court wearing a beige jacket, striped shirt and jeans, and flanked by two prison wardens as the case against him was laid out.

The trial had been adjourned earlier this month because senior defence counsel Orlando Pownall QC had been too unwell to proceed, but on Monday he assured Judge Mr Justice Weir he was ready to take the non-jury case.

Relatives of some of those killed in the August 1998 Real IRA strike listened in the public gallery while others had gathered 70 miles away in Omagh where a close circuit video link facility has been set up for the duration of the trial which is expected to last three months.

In his opening, Gordon Kerr QC, prosecuting, said the court would be told about the forensic evidence on the devices construction and about the warnings and claims of responsibility involving a recognised republican dissident terrorist code word for the car bombs.

All but two of the devices linked to the charges used mark 19 timer power units (TPU), Mr Kerr told the court.

This forms a series from which it can be concluded that the units were all built by the same person, the lawyer stressed. Fibre evidence will also be used to show a connection between the TPUs at the time of their construction, he added.